Resident Evil: Evolution
by Mina Grey
Summary: They knew only one mission - to stop Umbrella. But when the mission failed, only five remained, led by Beta - the first clone awoken by Alice. United by blood, they face the undead world with one last hope-finding Arcadia and stopping Umbrella for good.
1. Five

Pain. Confusion. She opened her eyes to gritty smoke that stung and brought tears to her eyes. There were other voices around her, some crying out in pain, some in anger. Wearily, she lifted her head and saw a mirror image of herself coming closer - make that two images. She felt a pressure lift from her leg and finally realized what had happened. There was an explosion and she had dove into a stairwell - the beams hitting her must have knocked her out. "What is the status of the 64?" She asked hoarsely, as the two others disposed of the beam that had been pinning her leg. They paused and glanced at each other. "Can't you feel it?" One asked as she helped her to her feet. She straighter and felt a horrible weight across her shoulders. Death. Death of her sisters. "We've failed." One whispered, the gash on her forehead dripping crimson. "Beta…..what do we do now?" Beta lifted her head and looked at the other two. "XC, you and I will help any other survivors. LIV, take care of that wound." They nodded and the three of them split up.

Only 2 of her group were found dead. That made 5 of the small group stationed 3 miles away from the entrance of Umbrella - for additional reconnaissance and "backup" Alice had said. Beta knew, as did then remaining clones that the rest - 64 clones had been killed in the explosion.

"What the hell are we going to do now?" One clone - V - asked, her tone unsure.

"Wait to be eaten?" Another - LX - muttered. The sounds of the undead were beginning to return to the destroyed city. "You heard Alice. If the mission failed, we were to go to Alaska to find the other survivors."

"Why should we?" LX asked, walking towards Beta. "64 of us have already died following Alice. And who puts you in charge?" Beta spun around, faster than the eye could follow. LX blocked her first punch, not realizing it was a feint until she suddenly found herself gasping for breath as Beta's other hand closed around her throat.

"Alice did. And now I am. No more of us are going to die. We follow Alice's instructions. Besides, there is strength in numbers. And ours are now dwindling." Beta looked at the other clones and then back at LX, before releasing her. "We fight each other, we die." LX rubbed her throat with narrowed eyes, but grudgingly nodded. "We fight together - maybe we can get a chance to live some kind of life after we finish this." Beta tilted her head. The moans of countless zombies were growing in intensity and already starting to cluster about a 100 yards away from them. "V, you still have your equipment?." V nodded, pulling out her headset and wrist computer from her back pack. "Find us some wings and a way to them. LX -" Beta motioned to the still disgruntled woman as she begrudgingly met her eyes. "Can you clear us an initial path?" LX nodded curtly once. "XC, you and and I are clearing stragglers. LIV, you are with V - watch her back so she can keep us updated. "We need to head East - 7 miles to a military base on the coast." V spoke up, after accessing her com pad. All five clones faced towards the rising sun as long shadows of the undead stretched in front of them. "East it is girls."


	2. Race to the coast

Beta spun in perfect unison with XC, cutting down undead with their twin katanas. They decided to save their limited amount of ammo as a last resort. LX and LIV used the majority of their psionic powers, saving the others to take over for them once they became too mentally weak to continue with that approach. They never stopped moving, for fear that they would become trapped with so many undead alerted to their presence. V was still able to fight, even with her computer alerting to her to any changes in their route every few minutes, but Beta was unwilling to take a chance that she would be distracted even for a second. It was hours until they finally reached their destination, having to skirt the blast radius and countless other roadblocks. By this time, everyone of them could feel the physical and mental strain.

"There!" V shouted, pointing to the tall chain-link fence across the street where they were positioned. Beta quickly took in the barbed wire and multiple layers of fence - it was too high and wide even for them to jump over without getting caught up in the wires - that is, without any help. Unfortunately, they were all too mentally drained to summon any more psionic blasts without making them too weak to fight - all except for V.

"Start making your way to the fence - V, you are with me!" Beta shouted, holstering her Katanas, and ran full speed at the fence, V a few feet behind her. Her muscles were burning as she dodged a few undead in the street. At the last second, right in front of the fence, Beta reached up to two of her throwing stars and threw them out to her sides, taking out two undead who were ambling toward her. Then she spun knelt, holding out her hands cupped in front of her. V, understanding her intention, didn't stop running, stepped up into her cupped hands - and the combined force of V and Beta pushing against each other propelled V up and over the fence, to land safely on the other side. "V now!" Beta shouted. V's eyes dilated and a whoosh of psionic power blew through the fence, throwing the undead immediately surrounding the clones to the ground. Beta motioned to the other three girls.

"Hurry!" One after the other, LIV, LX and XC ran to Beta, who acted as human leverage, propelling them all safely over the fence. But as XC ran to Beta, two undead reached for XC. Beta pulled her twin guns from her holsters and knelt, taking aim. "Go!" She shouted, pulling the triggers. The two undead men jerked as the bullets ripped through their brains. At the same time, XC never faltered - she ran to Beta, stepping first on her bent knee, then on her shoulder, jumping upwards. She almost didn't make it - she had to grab the second layer of fence with her hands, to flip over it. XC grimaced as the sharp wires tore at the meat of her hands, and she landed with a tumble. She stood, holding her bloody hands, but she ignored them, turning to look back through the fence. "Cover her!" LIV shouted, and as one, all of the clones except for XC pulled their guns from their holsters and fired through the fence.

Beta felt the bullets from then clones fly past her, striking those any undead that were getting too close. Beta turned, holstering her weapons, running along side the fence as the clones took out those in her path. She was aiming for the tall brick gate house that created a 90 degree angle with the wire fence. Beta gritted her teeth as bits of brain matter and blood hit her arm, remnants of those shot by one of the clones. One particularly tall and burly zombie lurched towards her, standing in front of the brick wall of the gate. At the last minute, Beta leapt in the air, using the undead's body as a step. Her foot connected with the brick wall and she used the momentum to run partially up the wall, her arms extended, muscles burning from the exertion -

Beta gasped as her hands just cleared the small ledge of the lookout platform. Straining, Beta managed to pull her self up, and knelt there for a moment, catching her breath. Then she took a step off of the platform and landed in front of her sisters on the other side of the fences.

"You alright?" LIV asked, helping Beta stand. Beta smiled weakly.

"Piece of cake."


	3. First Meeting with Alice

They searched three helicopters before they found one with enough fuel to get to Alaska. It also happened to be one that was fully enclosed rather than having the military grade exposed sides. V jumped in behind the controls while the other girls piled in the back. Beta put on the copilot's headgear as the blades started spinning.

"White Queen says ETA is six hours," V spoke into her mouthpiece, as the copter rose off the ground. Beta nodded and turned to the girls. But before she could open her mouth, LIV spoke up without turning her head.

"I agree Beta, we should all get some rest while we can." The other two girls in the back looked over at her in surprise. Beta tilted her head. That was exactly what she was going to suggest to the others.

"You heard me say that?" Beta asked, looking at the mirror image of herself. LIV looked over at her and shrugged. "It's what you were going to say, right?" With that, she removed her katana sheaths from her back, leaned back into the cushion and closed her eyes.

"Did you hear her?" Beta heard LX ask XC. The solemn woman shook her head no. Beta turned forward and leaned back into her own seat.

"Let me know when you need to be relieved V, and I'll take over so you can get some rest."

"Sure thing boss." Beta rolled her eyes and closed them, her mind whirring with the aftereffects of the recent adrenaline rush and the events of the past day - the past few weeks actually. When her life started. The day Alice woke her up...woke all of them up...

_(3 weeks earlier) _

Everything was strange. The girl looked at her hands, noting the pale skin and close cut fingernails. It was the weirdest feeling to recognize your own hand - but have no memories of it at the same time.

"So you're alive." The pale girl looked up as a tanned woman emerged from the glass lined room. The girl brushed her hair away from her face, - it was still damp from the fluid she woke up in.

"Thanks, by the way, for back there." Alice tilted her head at the room she had just emerged from.

"Who are you? Why...did I know how to turn off that laser grid, but I can't remember my own name?"

The tanned woman leaned her back against the wall next to her.

"Alice." She gestured to herself. "My name is Alice. And you...are me." The pale girl frowned at her and made a disbelieving noise.

"What?"

The tanned woman - Alice - sighed, looking forward. Then she straightened and rushed over to one of the computers where a light was beeping on the console.

"My god." She whispered and took off down the dimly lit hall.

"Wait, what is it?" The pale girl rushed after her, clutching her brown jacket closed. She found Alice stopped in front of a large window.

"What...is...it." The girl's mouth dropped open as she stopped next to Alice and looked through the window. There were rows of them - women in spheres of blue liquid. They were all identical...

The girl's eyes widened as she noticed for the first time, the reflection in the window. It was like looking in the mirror except for the skin color, hair and clothes. Same height, build and eye color - same stance, same tilt at the corner of the mouth.

"What is this?" She whispered, confusion whirling through her mind.

"Perhaps I can be of assistance." There was a crackling sound and both Alice and the pale girl turned around, startled as a form materialized in the middle of the office. It was a dark haired little girl in a white dress.

"Hello 93. It is good to see that you are alive and well. And Alice," the girl turned to Alice. "Well done."

"So glad you approve." Alice said dryly. The little girl turned to the pale woman, who was about to open her mouth to ask something.

"This is the cloning sector of this facility, where the clones of Project Alice are maintained and prepped for use. You, 93, although roughly the same age as the others, are genetically, the oldest surviving clone of Project Alice and with the exception of Alice, the greatest exhibitor of beta waves compared to all surviving clones.î


	4. That makes Two

"Beta?" Beta opened her eyes instinctively grabbing the hilt of her gun.

"Everything alright?"Beta asked, no trace of sleep in her voice. That's how it always has been – she could drop off to sleep in a moment and wake with no apparent disorientation or grogginess.

"No, we still have about an hour until we get there. But the White Queen asked me to tell you that she has successfully hacked into one of the remaining Umbrella facilities located in Ireland. She is in the process of decoding several program initiatives to see if any of them are aware of our survival or the survival of any of Alice's old teammates. She says so far, they are not aware of us, but she picked up chatter that they are tracking several priorities across the globe that include human survivors."

"So there are still humans out there." Beta murmured. "Is the radio call from Arcadia still broadcasting?"

"Yes, I can hear it now, but its weird because the signal is bouncing around too much so I can't tell if its still coming from the coordinates its broadcasting..."

"What did you say?" Beta interrupted, turning to look at V. V paused and cleared her throat. "You can track signals now?" Beta asked.

"I guess I can, I didn't realize I was doing it. Before it was just being able to tune in, like I was a radio. But now, its like I can follow them." V sighed and adjusted a knob on the control panel.

"Do you need a break? I'm impressed you are even still able to fly this thing for 5 hours straight." V hesitated.

"Um, there is another reason I decided to go ahead a wake you up. I was getting tired about an hour ago and I started playing with my flashlight, just twirling it between my fingers." V handed Beta her small but powerful Maglight. "It was like I could suddenly feel warmth under my hand and I flipped the switch on, curious. That's when the bulb shattered and the batteries died. And then...I felt awake. I felt like I had gotten a nice solid power nap. Go ahead, open it." Beta unscrewed the top and two chunky batteries fell into her lap. Beta's eyes widened as eh picked one up. It wasn't only dead – it looked as if it had literally been sucked dry, the casing crushed and folded in on itself. Beta looked at V with raised eyebrows, and then took out her flashlight.

"In case you get tired again. Wouldn't want you do to do that to the helicopter's electrical system." V took Beta's flashlight and stuck in her pocket with a rueful smile. "Yeah I thought of that. Which is why I woke you up - just in case something happened." Beta sat back in her seat and looked out the window at the sky. "That makes two,"Beta murmured to herself. First LIV could read their thoughts and now V was using electricity to rejuvenate herself and could track radio waves. The White Queen had been right...


	5. The Potential of a Clone

(**Sorry it has taken so long for me to update, but now that school is done and my other fanfic is done, this is my new fanfic project. I will try to update at least twice a week. Let's just say this is my returning start up chapter so I get back in the groove of the story so I can portray an accurate timeline and information cache:) Expect action in the next chapter!)**

83 clones woke up that day. All in the same state of confusion and panic at waking up in a sphere full of liquid, naked, and surrounded by rows of people who looked just like you. The first hour was chaos as the girls were helped from their stasis pods and clothed in whatever was available in the underground dormitories. It was Alice who finally established order, calming the girls somewhat before the White Queen calmly began the explanation behind where they where, why there were there…and what they were.

The gravity of the situation was understood surprisingly quickly by the clones. The White Queen mentioned later that it was Alice's nature to process information quickly, even before she was infected - apparently what was her original nature transferred in some part to the clones.

Priorities took over. Checking the facilities defenses. Cleaning up and disposal of the biohazards in the rooms Dr. Isaac's had ransacked. Getting food from the unharmed part of the underground gardens. Units were established, set up by both Alice and the White Queen.

Not wanting to be called Clones, or Alice's, the girls chose to number themselves in the order they awoke, using Roman Numerals. These numbers were tattooed into their arms, for easy identification. Individual units were more familiar with each other, some even naming each other. But with the number of identical girls, it just was easier to know the numbers. Except for me. The second day we were awake, Alice called me over, called me "Beta waves," in reference to the White Queen's first comment about me. So the name Beta stuck. All of our hair grew and darkened - even Alice's strawberry blonde hair started to turn dark from the chemicals surrounding us in the underground facility. She was the only one who kept it short, so they could all identify her with a glance.

After two weeks of working underground, the White Queen called Alice and I into a quiet meeting room. Through the glass, I could see units of clones doing different things throughout the facilities - some were doing repair work on some of the electrical wiring, some practicing with the katana's in the training room, and others wearing lab coats and meticulously looking at slides through microscopes. The last group was doing experiments with Alice's blood, per the White Queen's request. She oversaw them strictly, only needing them to act as physical tools in the lab.

We were meeting because two days prior, the clones started to notice their ability to move with lighting speed and precision. The day before, the first clone noticed her psionic powers when she was startled and nearly blew a hole through the training wall. In the following 24 hours, all clones were found to have the ability to create psionic blasts of various sizes.

The White Queen wanted us to know of her findings concerning these latest developments.

"_There is no way to know how these clones will evolve. Obviously, they are exhibiting abilities faster than the Original Project Alice, but my data shows that their are obvious discrepancies. For example, as previous tests showed, they cannot heal nearly as fast as Alice can, nor do they show any type of consistent ability overall - the ones who are the most powerful psionic blasters are those who have been fighting in the training area the longest. This suggests environmental triggers. _

_Overall, I suspect that the clones may start to exhibit selective power evolution if they progress at this rate. This means that, because they are evolving so fast, their abilities may become focused in specific areas of the brain - like increased activity in the cerebellum, allowing greater efficiency in limb and muscle coordination, but results in a lesser ability to create a psionic blast. Only time will tell how each clone reacts to their environment and how their bodies and minds evolve to adapt to it."_

_In other words, each individual clone means the chance for a different ability…_

"93, _there is a chance that your condition may be different.….."_


	6. Reaching Alaska

My eyes snapped open a moment before V spoke.

"We're here." The others were already awake. I looked out the windows and saw that we were now flying over a forest. We passed what looked like a makeshift airfield, but I motioned for V to do some flyovers to make sure it was safe to land. We spiraled out, until we came upon a beach.

"Look." LIV spoke, gesturing out the window towards the beach. There was a black helicopter sitting in the sand. As we got closer, we could see the umbrella symbol on its side.

"That must be the bird the survivors took from the desert." V commented.

"Either that, or an Umbrella scout out looking for us," murmured LX.

"There is no radio signal coming from the bird, but…shit…" V sucked in her breath. Beta saw her hand tighten on the yoke. "I should have heard it sooner."

"What?" Beta asked.

V gritted her teeth. "Umbrella radio transmissions. I can hear them talking. They are waiting for us to land before they capture us."

"So what do we do? The second we start turning away they'll probably gun us down." Cross spoke calmly from the back. Beta pursed her lips.

"V, circle once more, like we are looking around - do they know who we are?" V shook her head, no. "It sounds like they just think we are survivors of the outbreak." Beta looked out the window.

"Then we set down. We won't survive if they fire on us in the air. But on the ground….we have a chance." Beta outlined the plan quickly and everyone prepared.

V took the helicopter close to the tree line, making as if to set down. It was about 9 feet from the sand when V suddenly twisted the yoke, twisting the helicopter hard left then hard right. The force of the blades created a burst of wind that surprised the soldiers waiting in the trees. At the same time, four clones spilled out of the helicopter onto the beach.

All four clones landed in a rough line. LX and LIV rolled into a crouch and their heads snapped up, eyes dilating. Their psionic blasts ripped through the trees, taking out the majority of the men under cover there. Beta lead the way, X and V on either side of her as they ran past the other two, drawing their guns….

/

As the clones on the ground dispatched the remaining soldiers stationed in the woods, V flew the helicopter up over the forest as another an Umbrella chopper rose up behind her.

"Thought I heard you over there." V muttered to herself as she worked the controls, dodging the gunfire from her attacker. The other chopper was relentless however, and one of the rounds hit the body of her helicopter, singeing her electrical system. She was loosing power fast. And then the missile impound indicator light went off.

"SHIT!" As she started to descend rapidly, V unhooked her chest harness and twisted the yoke right. As the chopper banked right, V opened her door and dove from the cockpit with all of her strength. The missile hit about two seconds later, the explosion throwing her farther away. V struggled to right herself as the forest rushed up to her and she hit the top branches pretty hard. However, thick fur trees helped cushion her fall somewhat. It still hurt like a bitch though when she hit the ground.

"Ow," V spat through gritted teeth as she rolled to one side. Her left leg was busted and she wheezed, spitting out blood. She was hurt pretty bad.

V realized that she was at the edge of the tree line, about a half mile away from where the the girls hit the beach. Looking across the beach, she could see their gunfire. She army crawled to the edge as the helicopter that had just gunned her down shot over her head, towards the other girls.

"I don't think so," V muttered between gritted teeth. She reached out a hand towards the helicopter and her eyes dilated.

/

Beta turned around as she heard the chopper blades approaching. Her eyes widened as she saw the Umbrella markings on the side of it.

Suddenly, the chopper jerked sharply and started to loose altitude. It veered and dipped, its blades hitting the sand and driving the chopper into the ground. Then the gas tank ruptured, hit the sputtering engine, and helicopter exploded. The girls ducked as shrapnel was sent flying into the woods.

"Everyone ok?" Beta asked as she straightened. The other nodded and LIV grinned suddenly.

"V is ok too. Actually she's better than new." LIV pointed across the beach where V was running over to them. Beta holstered her guns. "You guys stay here - LIV, see if you can hear anyone else approaching." She ordered as she ran past them towards V.

When she got to V, she could see V was scratched to hell, blood coating from her arms and legs. But as she got closer, she couldn't see any outward injuries on her.

"Glad to see you are ok. Chopper gone?" V nodded, then motioned to the downed Umbrella chopper.

"They saw fit to kill my bird. Thought I'd repay the favor. Took out their power -" V held up a hand and wiggled her fingers. Little bursts of electricity shot over her fingertips. "And got a pick me up."

Beta raised her eyebrows slightly. Looks like V was getting a handle on her evolved powers. Beta looked back at the other three girls who had gathered at the edge of the tree line. LIV caught her eye and grinned. LIV too. Beta wondered when LX and Cross were going to show theirs.

Or when her own would emerge…..

The most pertinent question now was: What they hell were they supposed to do now? Their helicopter was gone and it was only a matter of time before either Umbrella would track them down - Beta knew they could potentially track their psionic blasts. That or the undead would sniff them out.

Either way, they couldn't stay here.

(**It may be at least a week before my next update, so I made this one extra long for you:) Oh and just to clarify, yes the clones have arrived in alaska before Alice does 6 months later.)**


	7. Planning

**(Sorry it took so long to update - I just got a new job and it has been insane! I have not forgotten about this story, so there will be more - I have about 10 chapters worth waiting for me to complete them, so faithful fans don't give up on me:))**

LX gave a shout from nearby as they all searched the dead men for supplies of any kind.

"I found a GPS!" Beta straightened from her kneeling position, shoving some ammo clips into a bag and zipped it shut.

"XC, LIV, keep gathering supplies. V, with me." She motioned as she sided up to LX. LX handed V then device, who powered up the screen, which was undamaged by the attack. V's eyes dilated and the device whipped through a dozen settings and screens to access a satellite reading of the area.

"Looks like we are about a 10 miles away from a City called Cordova. Population roughly 2300. Looks like that is our best bet. And there is an airport there. Only problem is that unless we want to take a really long way around, we will have to go through some wild territory. Best bet is to follow the river here, " V pointed and drew her finger upwards, "and follow this highway to the city." Beta nodded grimly. There really weren't many options. They didn't have a lot in terms of provisions - just a few bottles of water and packets of jerky. As dangerous as a city was, it was their best chance at survival. Beta scanned the sky thoughtfully. They weren't prepared to try to survive in the wild.

As Beta, V, and LX looked at the map, XC finished searching the last man and her hand brushed against something around his neck. It was a chain, attached to the end, a small cross. "He was only trying to survive - just like the rest of us." LIV commented. coming up behind XC. XC dropped it and stood, adjusting her rifle shoulder strap. "Mementos like that don't make a difference," XC said grimly. XC had learned quickly that sentiment was dangerous. After all, only a day ago she had lost the only family she had known. They all had.

"We still have each other. And hope is never a dangerous thing." LIV murmured quietly behind her. XC turned and raised and eyebrow at her. LIV smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, can't help it." XC shrugged, unconcerned. She never cared much for talking aloud anyways. As LIV started back towards the others, XC glanced down at the man's body, her eyes lingering on the cross for a moment before turning and following her. Beta was handing the GPS to V and looked up as the two of them.

"Lets go. We can't risk sticking around. I figure we have a few miles in us before it gets dark."

As they started to leave, LIV suddenly stopped and whipped her head back towards the direction of the first Umbrella helicopter still sitting on the beach. Beta paused as she saw her stop.

"LIV?" Is there someone else out there?"

Liv's eyes dilated as she searched the tree line, mentally searching for the whispered thoughts she swore she just heard. But as she searched, she heard nothing but the soft thoughts of her friends. It was like her gut was telling her someone was there, but something was blocking her from finding them telepathically.

"I don't feel anything now." Liv said slowly and turned back towards the other girls. Beta nodded slowly and took the lead with V. LIV took one last look behind her before following the troupe into the forest.

_Hidden in the woods, near the Umbrella helicopter she had escaped the desert in, a woman watched as the five girls took off. She has seen everything, but it was flashing from her memory, just like the rest of her thoughts. Her eyes fitfully gazed after them, her dirty red hair hanging in her face. For a moment she wanted to run to them ….as if they looked familiar….but a moment later, her mind retreated and she slowly faded into the forest once more. The red spider like apparatus on her chest pulsed slowly._


End file.
